To continue with the recycling theme from last week, I’ve got two things to share with you.
First, I had to tell you about something I recently realized that I’ve been doing wrong for years and years! Plus I see lots of other people doing the same thing all the time! What is it? Recycling plastic and glass bottles with the cap ON. I’ve always thought, “Hey, they’re both plastic so they both get recycled, right?” Wrong for a few reasons:
1. It turns out that the cap is made from a plastic resin that melts at a different rate from the plastic that bottles are made of.
2. The melted plastic caps will contaminate the quality of the plastic that’s made from the bottle.
3. Keeping the cap on the bottle requires a lot more effort (read: energy) to crush it and break it down.
So unfortunately, it seems that the best way to deal with those plastic bottle caps is to either turn them into crafty projects or chuck them in with the garbage.
Here are a few other tips for recycling those ubiquitous bottles:
- Always drain and rinse your glass and plastic bottles (just a couple swooshes of water will do, no need to use soap)
- Make sure your bottles are empty of liquid before putting them in the recycling bin to avoid adding extra weight (read: more fuel needed to transport) and to prevent a mess and potential injuries at the recycling plant
- Flatten your bottles (in the case of plastic) so that more will fit in your bin and in the recycling truck
And secondly, here’s a great article from Real Simple magazine on how to recycle anything! (Thanks Jen!)
